II. Unfinished Business

1. Discussion on evaluation of general education requirements

2. Discussion on adding members to the General Education Committee temporarily during the re-evaluation of the general education requirements

III. New Business

1. From the Honors Committee

The committee considered a proposal to designate GEOG 365: Field Methods (Geographies of Children) as a course that honors students can use to fulfill the Honors Program Research Methodologies Course requirement. Action – unanimously approved.

From the General Education Committee

a. Courses for re-evaluation for general education credit

a. Gabrielle Giannone – ALPP

The committee voted to approve ALPP general education credit for Gabrielle Giannone

b. Eleni Antzoulatos – Request for HES exception

The committee agreed to grant Eleni Antzoulatos’ request owing to an error resulting from a previous glitch in the degree auditing system.

The committee reminds all academic advisors and students that the HES requirement stipulates that at least one of the two courses required for completion be selected from the approved HES courses in ANTH, ECON, GEOG, LING, PSCI, PSYC, or SOCG.

b. Gen Ed Course Proposal Form

There were two main suggestions for the new form

1. Separate form for each general education category

2. Sections on form for projected enrollment and number of sections offered per year

The committee also agreed to impose moratorium on new course proposals for general education courses until the new general education curriculum is approved by the University Faculty Council.

IV. Nomination for UFC elections officers for the 2018/19 Academic Year

UFC Chair: Jackie Gallagher

UFC chair-elect: Anand Rao

Secretary: Dave Henderson

Parliamentarian: tbd

Elections will be held during the first organizing meeting on August 23, 2018 at 3pm.

V. Announcements

CAS P&T Committee Tenure Workshop

Thursday, 10 May, NOON-2:00pm (HCC, Digital Auditorium)Schedule:
Noon-12:30pm Lunch
12:30 – 1:00pm How to Prepare a Digital Tenure File*
1:00 – 2:00pm Breakout sessions for tenured and tenure-track facultySession A (for tenure track faculty): How to Prepare for Promotion and Tenure at UMW
(panel hosted by current CAS P&T members)Session B (for tenured faculty): How to Prepare for Promotion at UMW
(panel hosted by current and former CAS P&T members who have been promoted to Professor)

*In F17 CAS governance approved the longstanding request by CAS P&T that tenure files be digitized. Beginning in AY2018-19, all candidates for tenure and promotion or promotion will submit a digital tenure file.

Please register to attend the lunch and workshop so we have an accurate count for lunch: https://goo.gl/forms/q83fT8mqKTsGLY703​​
Contact Rosalyn Cooperman with questions. (rcooperm@umw.edu).

VI. Adjournment

The next UFC meeting will be held on August 23, 2018, from 3:00-4:30pm in the HCC Digital Auditorium.

II. Unfinished Business

1. From the General Education Committee

New motion:
[Replacing last meeting’s] Motion 15: Students in EL courses should reflect on several questions about their experience before completing the survey. SAGE 000 EL and all 499 courses completed for EL credit must complete a written self-reflection using these questions.
Professors in other courses may elect to incorporate these reflection questions directly into the experiential learning course as a written assignment – e.g., a set of journal exercises, internship reflection assignment, final reflection paper, or whatever works for the professor and student.

The questions are as follows:

Briefly describe your experience. What was the most interesting thing you learned during this experience? What knowledge or skills acquired or developed while in college were most useful in this experience? (explain)
What were you hoping to learn from this learning experience? Were you able to shape the experience so that you got what you were hoping for?
What knowledge or skills developed while in this experience were relevant to your undergraduate coursework? (explain) What knowledge or skills developed while in this experience broadened your perspectives on the world? (explain)
What problems or struggles did you encounter in this experience, if any? If so, how did you solve them? What did you do well? (Consider your time management, organization, teamwork, and/or professionalism as well as your own knowledge or expertise). In what areas would you most like to continue to strengthen your knowledge or skills? Has this experience changed your post-graduation plans? If so, how? Has it helped you understand what you do or don’t want to do with your career?

IV. Announcements

CAS P&T Committee Tenure Workshop

Thursday, 10 May, NOON-2:30pm (HCC, Digital Auditorium)Schedule:
Noon-12:30pm Lunch
12:30 – 1:30pm How to Prepare a Digital Tenure File*
1:30 – 2:30pm Breakout sessions for tenured and tenure-track facultySession A (for tenure track faculty): How to Prepare for Promotion and Tenure at UMW
(panel hosted by current CAS P&T members)Session B (for tenured faculty): How to Prepare for Promotion at UMW
(panel hosted by current and former CAS P&T members who have been promoted to Professor)
In F17 CAS governance approved the longstanding request by CAS P&T that tenure files be digitized. Beginning in AY2018-19, all candidates for tenure and promotion or promotion will submit a digitized tenure file.
Please keep an eye out for a follow up email with the specific location and Google Docs RSVP form. Colleagues with questions regarding the tenure workshop should contact Rosalyn Cooperman (rcooperm@umw.edu).

V. Adjournment

The next UFC meeting will be held on April 23, 2018, from 3:30-5:30pm in the HCC Digital Auditorium.

Note from John Morello: On December 12, 2016, the UCC approved the proposal for a new Master’s of Science in Nursing degree program. Following that, the Distance and Blended Learning Committee, the University Faculty Council, the Provost, and the UMW Board of Visitors had all approved the proposal.
Before we could offer the new degree, the proposal required approval by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV). The degree requirements and 16 new course proposals have been parked in the “current proposals” section of the UCC web site as we awaited a response to the proposal from the state.
We have been informed that the SCHEV staff will not recommend approval of this proposal. After reviewing the reasons for their decision, and discussing this development with our partners at Mary Washington Healthcare, we have decided to withdraw the proposal. I am removing the degree proposal and all the associated new courses from the UCC website. The MSN degree will not become a part of the UMW curriculum.

3. Discussion on suspending indefinitely actions by the UFC from March 24, 2015 (tabled from 11/29)

“Two, that the deans of each of the three colleges should be required to publish on a password protected website 1) the names of all conferences attended by faculty members when travel was funded by UMW and 2) the journal name and amount of any payments for submission or publication fees funded by UMW.

III. New Business

The council moves to bring a motion to the UFC that the General Education Committee submit and bring forward the subcommittee recommendations as individual motions to the UFC

The council moves to bring a motion to UFC to place a permanent moratorium on the implementation of any changes to assessment protocols until and unless the UFC has the opportunity to review and approve them

The council requests that the Gen Ed committee or Debra Schleef inform faculty governance of the relevant requirements (e.g., SCHEV) for gen ed course assessment and particularly whether student achievement must be assessed

1. From the General Education Committee

II. A request was made from the Sociology Department to reinstate the EL designation for SOCG 364. At our September meeting, this designation was removed, at the request of the instructor. The committee voted unanimously, via electronic vote, to reinstate the EL designation for SOCG 364.

II. Old Business

III. New Business

Discussion on suspending indefinitely actions by the UFC from March 24, 2015: “Two, that the deans of each of the three colleges should be required to publish on a password protected website 1) the names of all conferences attended by faculty members when travel was funded by UMW and 2) the journal name and amount of any payments for submission or publication fees funded by UMW.

IV. Announcements

Anand Rao:

Anand Rao and Cedric Rucker will be co-chairing a committee that will look at the Statement of Community Values and the Principles on Diversity and Inclusion.

V. Adjournment

The next UFC meeting will be held on January 31, 2018, from 3:30-5:30pm in the HCC Digital Auditorium.

II. Unfinished Business

none

III. New Business

From Academic Affairs:

Motion: The Department of Modern Languages & Literatures recommends that back (or retroactive) credit in the amount of three credits be awarded if the student, upon taking a UMW language placement exam, then takes the same language at the level in which (s)he placed, and successfully completes that level (course) with a B- or higher.

3. From General Education Committee:

2. Motion: New policy: If a course that meets a General Education requirement has not been taught for three academic years, a department will be notified that the course will be removed from the general education list. Unless the department provides a compelling reason why the course should not be removed, and shows evidence that the department intends to teach the course in the next semester (and then does so), it will be removed from the list of General Education courses. Courses that are removed can be submitted to the General Education committee for reconsideration at a later date.

3. Motion: New policy: If a course that meets a General Education requirement has a prerequisite course in that same general education category (and only once course is needed to satisfy a particular General Education requirement or part of a requirement), a department will be notified that the course is being removed from the general education list. If a prerequisite changes, that second course can be submitted to the General Education committee for reconsideration at a later date.

4. From Writing Intensive Committee

The WI Committee recommends approval of the following WI Course Designation Proposal:

IV. Announcements

Juliette Lanphair, VP for Student Affairs requesting the University Faculty Council’s consideration of two matters:

Faculty Athletics Representative (FAR) opening: President Troy Paino is searching for candidates for the UMW Faculty Athletics Representative (FAR) position. Currently, Dr. Woody Richardson is serving as interim FAR and has agreed to remain in the role until a permanent FAR is chosen by Dr. Paino.

According to the NCAA, “the faculty athletics representative (FAR) plays an important role on college campuses, providing oversight of the academic integrity of the athletics program and serving as an advocate for student-athlete well-being. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) requires each of its member institutions to appoint an FAR who must be on the faculty or administrative staff and may not hold a position in the athletics department.”
Please see the attached UMW Faculty Athletics Representative position description.

College Students’ Views of First Amendment rights: Over the last year, campus protests over invited speakers have roiled college campuses and even resulted in violence. As a result, many college communities have been undergoing “free speech audits,” reviewing policies and protocols regarding support for free expression.

As Vice President for Student Affairs and particularly as chairperson of the Violence Prevention Team, I would like to bring to the faculty’s attention a recent Brookings Institution survey about college students’ beliefs regarding First Amendment rights. This survey revealed some notable gaps between what students believe is constitutionally protected speech and actual First Amendment protections. PowerPoint

From FAC – reminder that committees exist to serve the faculty. Particularly, the committee is hoping to remind the UFC that if they have concerns about faculty welfare they should contact the UFC, FAC, and Miriam Liss specifically as chair.

[alternate motion passed: Endorse a change in the evaluation policy by extending it to all the faculty, every semester, but only for the next academic year (no change to the handbook) and only if the change in the policy is done in context with a broader discussion of faculty evaluation. At the end of the academic year, we would encourage University Faculty Affairs Committee, in collaboration with the University Academic Affairs Committee, and with the Office of Institutional Analysis and Effectiveness, to bring this back for consideration.]

Working to remediate salary compression (currently with Advisory Committee on Salary Adjustment)

Enabling online P&T review (currently with UFC; may come back to our agenda at some point)

General Education Committee

Consideration of student requests for general education credit for transfer courses

Consideration of faculty proposals for general education credit designation for courses

Establishment and implementation of a procedure for removing general education courses from the list of approved courses based on their frequency of being offered. The committee has decided this year that if a course has not been offered within a four year cycle (so that a student could reasonably expect it will be offered while they are enrolled), it should be removed from the list of approved courses. This policy will be formalized and implemented next academic year.

Coordination with the Office of Institutional Analysis & Effectiveness for General Education Assessment. There is a great deal of assessment data that has been gathered on the various general education courses. The committee and Debra Schleef, Associate Provost of Institutional Analysis & Effectiveness, have developed a plan this year for working groups to evaluate this data and provide feedback to the instructors and the committee. This plan will go into play this summer, so we anticipate the first reports this fall. The committee will need to respond to these reports and prepare for the next round of evaluation in summer 2018.

Committee membership for 2017-2018: Nicole Crowder (CAS, current chair), Belleh Fontem (COB), Jennifer Walker (COE). Two at-large positions will be open for 2017-2018.